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The real stars of #SingleDadWeek

In some respects we thrived. In others we merely survived. But I’m glad to report that Single Dad Week drew to a close with all children still present and accounted for. I counted them all out and I counted them all back.*

Six days. Three children. One father, keeping it all together (barely) with a combination of seat-of-the-pants brinksmanship and plentiful supplies of paracetamol and pinot noir.

Actually, that’s not entirely true. (It was mostly rioja rather than pinot noir.)

However, the real stars of the week were the kids themselves. They may only be seven, five and not-quite-three, but I couldn’t have asked for much more of them during what was a tiring week all around. Isaac the mature and responsible big brother. Toby the mummy’s boy, who quietly dealt with Heather’s absence by snuggling up to me instead and being generally helpful in so many ways. And last but by no means least Kara, who took the lack of Mummy in her stride and didn’t throw a single diva strop throughout six days (setting a new personal best by five days, 23 hours and 55 minutes).

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Our three wise monkeys. Or just monkeys, at least

The three of them did things together, they did things separately, they did things both with and without me such as (more or less) getting themselves dressed on time. For a trio of kids who are all very close to their mother, fuss was kept to a minimum and I only had to tell them off on a handful of occasions.

We had breakfast together. We did bath-time and bedtime together. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all fun and games and smiles at every turn …

I don’t think much of this game …

… But even when tiredness and boredom gave way to grumpiness and the occasional sibling niggle, they were never beyond my ability to control. It was almost as if they’d made some kind of secret pact between them in which they agreed to not to give me a hard time.

All three of them were stars and fully deserved the suitcase full of presents that Heather brought back for them from Johannesburg.

Look! Presents!

Of course, it was no surprise when they all flocked to Heather the moment she walked through our front door on Saturday morning. But I did notice that none of them ignored me completely. And my favourite moment of the entire week came later that day when Toby – normally the least tactile and empathetic of our children – sidled up to me, threw his arms around me to give me a cuddle and said with a little smile, “Thank you, Daddy. I had a really good time.”

Really, I didn’t do anything special last week. But the kids did, proving to me just how grown-up they’re becoming.

Actually, I like to think all four of us grew up a little bit over the course of six days.

* A reference to the BBC’s Brian Hanrahan’s most famous report during the Falklands War. Just because.

This made me a weeny bit emotional! I’m so pleased the kids were so good and that final comment by Toby. Well done Tim, while I’m sure you won’t be wishing Heather away on such a long trip for a while, you do know you can do it. You should be one proud daddy! Thanks for linking up with #twinklytuesday

Woo hoo you made it!! Gold stars to the kids for toning it down and not giving you too hard a ride too 🙂 Did you have to take time off work? Did someone else pick them up from school? There are so many factors to consider when one parent isn’t around… Thanks for linking up to #thetruthabout this week X

I had my parents around for the first day and a half, then for the rest of the week I dropped the boys off at our regular child-minder who drops them to school and then dropped Kara off myself. Then in the evening (except for Friday, when the boys had a play-date next door), I’d pick Kara up from preschool and the boys from after-school club, bring them home and feed the boys dinner. No time off work, but it did mean my working days got squeezed at both ends and I was having to catch up in the evenings. Fine for a week, but it would be challenging for longer.

Ahh you have done amazing and glad you have survived and the kids too. It always seems that when I am out of the house even for a day the kids act and behave better for Daddy or Granny. Not fair. Lucky you though. Glad there were no diva meltdowns and the kids were good for you. Way to go single Dad week. I know my hubby couldn’t have survived it. Pat on the back indeed. Thank you ever so much for linking up to Share With Me. #sharewithme

Are you available next week while I go and lie down for a week and rest??!! Ha ha. Glad you made it through and survived. I feel like that every week!!!!!!!! And thank goodness for wine hey? Jess x #sundaystars

It sounds like the week went amazingly well, it’s always fab when something that could go horribly wrong turns out brilliantly. The kids look like they were still as cheeky as ever though! Popping in from Magic Moments.

Cheeky and yet well behaved. It did go well on the whole – nothing went so horribly wrong that I couldn’t cope, and to be honest I was never that worried it would be a complete disaster as I’ve had enough experience looking after them in the past – just not all three of them for this long!

It was lovely. We’re verylucky with all our kids – while they have their bad moments just like any other children, they are also very sweet and have a knack of showing little signs of appreciation and affection just when we really need them the most.

Well done Tim, you’re much braver than Andy!! Really pleased it all went better than expected and the kids enjoyed having daddy time. Toby’s hug sounds like it was very emotionally charged, so nice when the kids bestow unprompted love upon us isn’t it 🙂

I’m sure Andy would be just fine. Sometimes we just need to be thrown into the deep end to prove to ourselves that we can actually swim. Toby was cute – he doesn’t often show emotion so openly, so when he does your eally know he means it.